The 'Doctor' Sews Up 5 - Star Series Victory at the "Land of Legends"

 

Canandaigua, NY – July 21, 2022 – By Gary M. Spaid, Canandaigua Speedway PR

 

Team Canandaigua was present on Saturday to take on all of the top guns from other Five Star speedways including Brewerton, Fulton, Rolling Wheels, Cayuga County and Can-Am, around whom the mini-series is centered. But it would be Danny Johnson, representing Team Rolling Wheels who would take home the $2,000 win in the Five Star race. Local star, and heavy pre-race favorite, Steve Paine, came home second to represent Team Canandaigua.

 

“We had an exceptional car here tonight,” quoted Johnson. “I could run anywhere on this track using a car like that.”

 

In DIRTcar Sportsman Modified action it would be Scott Schrader taking home his second feature win of the season, powered by a brand new crate motor. Twenty-six sportsman cars were on hand for the evening as Genesee Speedway was closed for the annual Fair, providing many new cars.

 

The Mod Lite division made a special appearance at the half mile oval with Doug Williams taking the 15-lap feature win. “I have to thank your track crew for such a beautiful speedway,” stated Williams in victory lane. “We had an electrical problem a couple of weeks ago, but the crew got it fixed and ever since all I can say is ‘Wow.”

 

Can-Am Motorsports Park was hosting a DIRTcar Street Stock Super Series event, but still a few of the local UMP Ferris Mowers Street Stocks turned out at Canandaigua. It would be Mike Welch taking the feature win, his fourth of the season at Canandaigua. Eric Chapman won his third PureStox 10-lap A-Main of the season and second in a row.

 

The Five Star DIRTcar Modified main featured 24 cars in the starting line, with a Le Mans style introduction kicking off the 35-lap affiar. By virtue of the inversion process, the top-10 finishers from the heat races were inverted, putting Team Canandaigua driver Derrick Podsiadlo on the pole and Ron Smoker on the outside-pole.

 

At the green it would be Podsiadlo grabbing the lead followed by Bob Henry Jr., some three car-lengths back. The first of five yellow flags flew on lap four when John Pfeffer slid off the first turn. He gathered his car up and returned to the rear of the field.

 

Two laps later, lap six, Kevin Bates seemed to go just a bit too low in between the first and second turns. He emerged from this move and slid high, pushing Ron Smoker, who was outside of him, up into the second turn wall. Bates just showed sheet metal damage and never lifted, but Smoker was done for the night.

 

On the ensuing restart Henry took the lead from Podsiadlo as Justin Haers slid to a stop in the infield, off the front stretch. Starter Dave Farney threw the yellow to make sure Haers was alright. Justin then limped back onto the track but had to be towed to the pits.

 

Henry now held down the top spot with Gary Tomkins taking up second, just passing Podsiadlo before the yellow. Henry maintained his lead over Tomkins and was able to build a cushion of some three car lengths before the yellow flew on lap 11, when Kevin Bates slowed on the front stretch. This caused a number of drivers to checkup very quickly.

 

On this restart Podsiadlo and Danny Johnson scrambled by the two leaders and took the front two positions. The new frontrunners crossed the line side-by-side on lap 12, but it would be Johnson’s many years of experience at the speedway that paid off, along with what Johnson referred to as “a really good car tonight,” that pushed the 27J into the lead.

 

Johnson then began to stretch his lead. On lap 15 Tomkins retook second, but could not chase down the high-flying Johnson.

 

The final yellow came on lap 18 when Pete Taylor lost a left front wheel in the third turn. The restart was all Johnson. A battle was developing for second between Canandaigua points leader Steve Paine and Tomkins. Finally on lap 31, Paine was able to take the runner-up position using lap traffic.

 

As they crossed the finish line it would be Johnson followed by Paine, Tomkins, Jimmy Phelps and Frankie Caprara Jr. nipped Podsiadlo at the line for fifth. For Johnson it was his 66^th feature win at Canandaigua and his first since June of 2001.

 

At the drop of the green in the DIRTcar Sportsman feature, Jim Hull immediately jumped into the lead and stretched out a five-car advantage. With 25 of the 26 cars taking the green, no caution came until lap 17 when Loren Lincoln slowed and the yellow came out for debris.

 

On the restart a massive crash in the first turn involving five cars, Darryl Hilkert, Kevin Ridley, Anthony Rizzardo, Ricky Newton and Rob Richmond Jr. Only Hilkert and Richmond jr. were able to return.

 

It would be Schrader who would take the lead from Hull on this final restart. Schrader then too stretched out an advantage as the Guererris, Nick and Paul, both got around Hull. Also flying through the field, on his first night back, was Todd Henderson. At the finish line it was Schrader with his second victory of the season, followed by Paul Guererri, Henderson, Nick Guererri and Dan Wiesner. “The Fox Auto team needed this win after all of the bad luck we’ve had this season,” stated Schrader, who’s first win came in a non-crate powered car and this win in a crate powered number 58.

 

The Mod Lite feature was all Doug Williams, who started on the front row and stretched out a 10-car lead over Todd Simons. Two yellows and a red flag would slow this event.

 

On lap four the yellow flew when Tommy Felicia slowed on the track. The second yellow followed two laps later when Mike Mullen slid high off the third turn. On the restart Joe Gwilt took a wild flip in the first turn, which sent cars scattering all over. Gwilt emerged uninjured from his car, but his car was pretty much stripped of all running gear and wheels in the accident.

 

Williams remained in the lead for the remainder of the race with the battle for second between Lowell Zehr and Todd Simons. Zehr made a run in the closing laps at Simons and Rocco Leone and at the finish line it was Williams followed by Zehr, Simons, Leone and Andrew Schartner.

 

Both the PureStox and UMP Street Stock races were run with limited cautions. In the PureStox division, Eric Chapman took the lead from Corey Hunt and led the rest of the 10-lap event to take the win. The only yellow in this race came on the first lap when Brian Faulkner was forced out of his line and he spun in the third turn almost collecting a number of other cars.

 

In the Street Stocks it would be a battle between Phil Marsden and Mike Welch that excited the fans. These two went back and forth in the lead for a number of circuits, until Welch was able to secure the lead for good on lap 11. “We had a commitment in the area tonight and we were not able to go to the series race at Can-Am,” commented Welch. “We’ll be at Rolling Wheels’ Series race tomorrow.”

 

LEGEND’S LEDGER: Central New York invader Bob Henry Jr. finished 9^th to lock up an automatic starting berth for the Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Championship on Oct. 6 of Super DIRT Week XXXVI in Syracuse, NY…‘Driver of the Week’ winners were Vance Vanderwall in the PureStox, Chris Fisher in the Street Stocks and Todd Henderson in the Sportsman. Each winner will receive two passes to the races on August 4…Only three fans were brave enough to enter the “Ugly Truck” Contest. The winner was Dustin Lurcock, from Ovid, NY, driving a 1984 Chevy flat bed. Lurcock was awarded two passes to the races on August 4…Thirty-three modifieds were on hand for the Five Star show.

 

The Ontario County Fair will be in full swing on Saturday, July 28. The planned annual stock car races will be somewhat different from years past. Topping the race card will be a Mr. DIRTcar Street Stock Championship race. Also on the race card will be the Pro Trucks from nearby Black Rock Speedway, a powder puff crazy Chicks in Cars Catfight and  the Utterly Unlimited Unfair Enduro. Race time is 7 p.m. sharp. Come early and enjoy the annual Fair.

 

DIG SAFELY/BUDWEISER/AUTOGENESIS/WNYR RADIO FIVE STAR NIGHT SUMMARY

PURESTOX

HEAT: C. Hunt, E. Chapman, M. Minutolo, R. Lurcock, R. DePuy, B. Faulkner.

WNYR RADIO 10: ERIC CHAPMAN, Ryan DePuy, Ross Lurcock, Jim Cronin, Marc Minutolo, Karl Wilkins, George LaVare Jr., Brian Faulkner, Vance Vanderwall, Corey Hunt, Chris Guererri.

 

UMP FERRIS MOWERS STREET STOCK

HEAT:  P. Marsden, M. Welch, S. Faulkner, C. Fisher, M. Rasbeck

WNYR RADIO 15: MIKE WELCH, Phil Marsden, Steve Faulkner, Chris Fisher, Mike Rasbeck, Brian Lyons, Mike Dandino, Leroy Lewis (DNS).

 

MOD LITE

HEAT 1: D. Williams, L. Zehr, A. Schartner, M. Occhipinti, M. Mullen.

HEAT 2: T. Simons, M. Rainville, J. Hebert, B. Rice, L. Herbert.

HEAT 3: J. Barker, R. Leone, J. Gwilt, M. Rainville, J. King.

BUDWEISER 15: DOUG WILLIAMS, Lowell Zehr, Todd Simons, Rocco Leone, Andrew Schartner, Rich Rainville, Jamie King, Matt Rainville, Mike Rainville, Mike Virginia, Jeff Blackburn, Jeff Hebert, Lisa Thomas, Michael Occhipinti, Brenda Rice, Lorrie Herbert, Matt Virginia, Jeff Barker, Joe Gwilt, Mike Mullen, Tom Felicia, Moe Degrasse.

 

DIRTcar SPORTSMAN MODIFIED

HEAT 1: N. Guererri, J. Hull, R. Bussey, D. Wiesner, P. LaVare, K. Ridley.

HEAT 2: S. Schrader, M. Chiddy, L. Lincoln, T. Currier, R. Richmond Jr., J. Robinson.

HEAT 3: E. Giguere, P. Guererri, D. Hilkert, A. Rizzardo, R. Newton, G. Hixson.

AUTOGENESIS 25: SCOTT SCHRADER, Paul Guererri, Todd Henderson, Nick Guererri, Dan Wiesner, Jim Hull, Mark Chiddy, Greg Hixson, Phil LaVare, Jesse Pontello, Justin Wright, Tim Currier, Rob Richmond Jr., Rob Bussey, Darryl Hilkert, John Robinson, Joe Cook Jr., Anthony Rizzardo, Kevin Ridley, Ricky Newton, Loren Lincoln, Daryl Barrett, Marcus Dinkins, Larry Stell, Greg Mrzywka, Eric Giguere (DNS).

 

FIVE STAR DIRTcar BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED

HEAT 1: F. Caprara Jr., K. Bates, R. Smoker, M. Bowman, R. Cartwright Jr.

HEAT 2: J. Haers, J. Phelps, D. Podsiadlo, C. Homan, J. Pfeffer.

HEAT 3: G. Tomkins, B. Henry Jr., C. Donk, D. Rauscher, R. Phelps.

HEAT 4: S. Paine, R. Hefti, D. Johnson, A. Johnson, C. Bower.

CONSI: S. Hulsizer, S. Whaley, P. Taylor, F. Pereira.

DNQ: Mike Johnson, Fran Hilton, Ed Monroe, Phil Vigneri, Paul Habeck, Don Slover, Eldon Payne Jr., Mike Payne, Randy Chrysler.

FIVE STAR-DIG SAFELY 35: DANNY JOHNSON, Steve Paine, Gary Tomkins, Jimmy Phelps, Frankie Caprara Jr., Derrick Podsiadlo, Alan Johnson, Chuck Bower, Bob Henry Jr., Steve Hulsizer, Ryan Phelps, Charlie Donk, Dave Rauscher, John Pfeffer, Chad Homan, Shannon Whaley, Mike Bowman, Francisco Pereira, Ron Cartwright Jr., Russ Hefti, Pete Taylor, Kevin Bates, Justin Haers, Ron Smoker.

 

The Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series for Big-Block Modifieds is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels. Promotional partners include AMB i.t., F.X. Caprara Car Companies, Rite Aid Corporation and the University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Integra Shocks, MSD Ignitions, Miller Electric Manufacturing Company and Wrisco Industries.